Police stopped a car on Turkey’s Georgian border to carry out a search upon a tip. H.T.K. was found hiding in a secret compartment below the back seat, near the car’s fuel tank.

A Turkish woman identified by the initials H.T.K. was detained in Artvin province while she was allegedly attempting to flee to Georgia, on Feb. 28.

Police stopped a car on Turkey’s Georgian border to carry out a search upon a complaint. H.T.K. was found hiding in a secret compartment below the back seat, near the car’s fuel tank.

According to Turkish media, there was an outstanding arrest warrant for H.T.K., issued as part of a government crackdown on the Gülen movement, which is accused by the government of being behind a failed coup attempt on July 15.

Meanwhile, a former police chief, identified with initials, M.S.Ç. was detained in Edirne province while he was allegedly on his way to escape to Greece, on Friday. Gendarmerie rounded up M.S.Ç. near Keşan district along with Y.A., another Turkish man who was claimed to be abetting M.S.Ç. on his escape. Dismissed from his job in the aftermath of the July 15 coup attempt, U.G.Y. was arrested after appearing before court in the same day.

Thousands of people have fled Turkey due to a massive witch-hunt launched by the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government against sympathizers of the Gülen movement since a failed coup attempt on July 15. The government accuses the movement of masterminding the coup.

About 130,000 people have been purged from state bodies, 92,000 detained and 45,000 arrested since the coup attempt. Arrestees include journalists, judges, prosecutors, police and military officers, academics, governors and a comedian.

Several tips earlier submitted to Turkey Purge confirm that both private sector and public institution deny jobs to the people dismissed after July 15, fearing government pressure.

21 MORE CIVILIANS JAILED OVER ALLEGED COUP INVOLVEMENT

On the other hand, a Turkish court ruled for the arrest of a total of 21 civilians on Saturday over alleged links to the Gülen movement. Detention warrants were issued for 34 Ağrı individuals early on Friday. Hours later, police teams carried out simultaneous operations in the province and detained all the suspects. 21 of those were sent to prison on Saturday.

The arrestees are reportedly accused of having links to the Gülen movement, using of a smart phone application known as ByLock and attending public meetings organized by the movement followers. (SCF with turkeypurge.com) March 4, 2017